How my TV you let your child watch?

[Herts501]

I have a 16 month old who will sit and stare at the tv for the whole day if we let him.

Myself and my partner disagree about how long to let him watch per day and I wondered what other parents do?

My 17 month old normally watches about 30 mins after breakfast and then another 30 mins in the afternoon when I need some peace

Everything in moderation.

@iamsoreadyforbednow I had it on most of the time if I wasn't going out. A lot of the time was background noise for myself so I'd stick friends on or something else that I'd seen 500 times already
My son taught himself to read watching alphablocks and he was obsessed with numbers so loved numberblocks and both my boys loved Thomas when they were little.
Do people really sit there with a timer to make sure their kids watch no more than 20 minutes of TV just in case something catastrophic happens??

My DS is 14 months and doesn’t watch any regularly. We’ve had it on in the background in the past and he hasn’t paid any attention, I think he thinks it’s a giant speaker as I play Spotify through it for him to dance to instead.

I’m trying to keep screentime to just special occasions like travel - we have long car journeys or long haul flights to visit family so I’m ideally keeping TV as a treat for then.

Mine didnt watch tv at that age
They are 6 and 7 now and watch 30mins-1h per day. They dont get screens every day though.

How do you manage this??

Last Saturday I took my dcs out in the morning for 3 hours walk + trip to the cafe, then another 3 hours playing in the park with some friends. They still managed to fit in 6 hours of TV!! Attempts to try to get them to do something more wholesome just caused them to whine about how they were too tired and then they started winding each other up and fighting. I gave up in the end as TV time is my only chance to clean the house/do the laundry/have some time to myself!
Although I had unlimited TV/screen time growing up and as an adult I barely ever watch TV because my kids ate always watching it.

Hi all, thank you so much for your replies. It's so interesting too see that there doesn't really seem to be a general consensus on this subject.

To clarify, my husband will literally leave Baby TV on all day for our little one. He puts it straight on whenever he has him. If I leave him in charge I can guarantee it will be on when I get back. I'm the one who is concerned about the impact it could have on his development but it makes me feel like I'm nagging as I constantly have to bring it up.

That being said, when I'm at home alone with my little one, I do find it difficult not to have the TV on just as background noise.

I do try to play with him (when we are not at groups, swimming etc....) but all he is interested in is knocking things over, taking things apart or climbing. He doesn't stack blocks, roll a ball, dance, do puzzles, clap..... Perhaps it's just the way he is at the moment but it does make it quite difficult to play with him as he doesn't really play back, if you get what I mean x

@Herts501 to be fair I'm pretty lax about having the tv on but you are describing exactly what my dp did which frustrated me. It's like he didn't even attempt to entertain him, then use the tv when he was tired or needed to do something (like I did). It just went straight on which wasn't good IMO. So I don't think you are being unreasonable at all, but you also don't need to be strict with it. Just ask that he at least make an attempt to contribute to some development before retiring to the tv 😄

when I'm at home alone with my little one, I do find it difficult not to have the TV on just as background noise

Your baby will copy you. So you have to either switch it off, or accept the inevitable.

Maybe you should wean yourself of the TV!

You're fine either way, but if the TV is on in your house, you can't expect a baby not to watch it.

Hey bear sensory videos on all the time in this house - only way I can make up bottles, get some housework done. Don’t get me wrong little one will get fed up and we’ll switch to playing with her toys, it’s hard to keep babies entertained all day everyday. Do what you need to to get through the day!

My DD is now just over 2, but we've always been a house where the tv is on in the background.
In DD's playroom, the tv will usually be on CBeebies all day. If a programme catches her eye that she likes to watch, it will get her attention (but very rarely for the full show) but she is generally playing with her toys independently or with DH or me.

She also goes to nursery 3 mornings a week, with swimming and a toddler class on the other 2 week days. So it's not like she's stuck in a room with the tv on 24/7

I’ve never restricted how much screen time my children get. I think it’s counter productive. I would encourage them to watch educational things though. My youngest could read and spell lots of words before 3 because he’d seen them on the tv and screen.
The main thing for me though is not to restrict screens but to make other things more appealing. They’ll self limit that way IME.

But most mumsnet would think I’m not a great parent anyway. I don’t set bed times or curfews. All my kids are late teens/twenties now and and at college/uni or have graduated with good jobs so I did something ok

Probably an hour? I was writing a dissertation and working part-time when DD was a baby, so youtube was definitely an important co-parent!

At that age DD used to watch songs and cartoons in 4-5 different languages and now in Y6 she loves and seeks out her own foreign language stuff (currently she is obsessed with Masha i Medved (nostalgia for her!) and the Bollywood music TV channel). I think it trained her ear to enjoy the sounds and rhythms of different tongues. It'll help her if she wants to study any languages in earnest later on.

@AdrianCanChaseMe

If you want to go for a shit in peace there is nothing wrong with plonking your child in front of ceebeebies for a bit. But if you want to be a martyr, then crack on.

All day everyday is not good though.

Yup! Sometimes a brief blast of baby sensory tv was the only way I could deal with the post partum constipation in peace when dh went back to work.

I don't know why I clicked on this thread, I knew the replies would annoy me 😂

My kids watch TV. They are 2 and 3. They can watch as much as they like. So generally they don't sit and binge on it, they watch a programme after they've been charging about outside to chill and then they get up and find something to play with. Sometimes they watch nursery rhymes in the background, sometimes they watch farming videos on YouTube. I can't get worked up about it to be honest.

Also my eldest is autistic and the use of screens is an important tool for children with ASD to help them self regulate.

I think everything is about balance to be honest. And lockdown with a 1 year old and newborn (during extensive building works too!) taught me to not make strict rules with myself that would make my life harder. I'd rather they watch TV and have a mother that's actually had an hour of downtime and therefore more keen to play than a frazzled mess because the internet said their brains will be destroyed if the TV gets switched on.

@use257 My 16 month old watches TV and the house is still a dirty mess!
OP mine watches anything between 15 minutes and an hour a day when he's at mine, often in 2 or 3 chunks. He's just got to the age where he points at the TV though and asks for it so it might be more soon hahaha. None on days when he's at nursery. I don't think it's something that's worth making a big deal about.

During the lockdown wfh childcare is closed shitshow DS watched a lot of telly, he's fine. If he is putting the telly on and doesn't interact with your child at all thats not good, but if it's on and he plays periodically etc then meh.

Our tv is on pretty much the whole day. However we don't watch tv as such. DD is non verbal, but is slowly learning communication through music, so we tend to have nursery rhymes on, and education videos. Though 90% of the time, she's running around and not paying any attention.
I wouldn't worry too much about how much tv a child watches. As long as they're still getting interaction from you regularly throughout the day, and you're playing with them and encouraging play alongside, there's no harm in tv time.

Mine watch quite a bit tbh. I limit the older two to 30 mins on the games console per day ( and only after home work) but tv is available. However, they seem to self regulate pretty well and don’t spend all day watching. I do put a twirly woo on for my 1 year old. She does her dancing to the theme tune and waves to the woos at the end. It’s adorable!

At that age you can more easily avoid it try toy rotation. Divide the toys into 4/5 bags and each day bring one bag out and put it bang in the middle of the play area.

Another trick, that may work better for slightly older kids, is putting boring tv on like in the morning, channel 5 does good cartoons but then goes into morning talk shows. The kids will start playing with their toys if the morning talk shows are on but get upset if I actually turn off the tv instead 🤷🏻‍♀️

Btw, if you're doing it to cope with any issues then it's perfectly ok to use the electronic babysitter sometimes. Just don't let it go on for a super long time every day..... you know that's definitely not good

Oxbridge baby and songs for Little's with miss Rachel are a good option rather than peppa pig or hey duggee etc which doesn't teach anything

Nothing wrong with sticking a kid in front of the TV for a bit. Does no harm, loads of educational shows on nowadays. If they’re going out playing/socialising/to nursery/swimming, etc, I don’t think a few hours here and there make you anything other than a normal, non-holier-than-though parent. My baby brother watched a lot of TV when younger (amongst doing other activities.) He’s a straight-A student, socially fine, mentally fine, no eyesight issues, no brain rot. Can’t put a bowl in the dishwasher but that’s another issue.

1hr, split over 2 sessions.

I think it's not so much of the watching the tv, it's what else they could/should be doing e.g. socialising at a todler group etc.

But it's needs must. I had a migraine last week and have no family support and pepper pig was my saviour!

At that age, none of mine watched any. My two year old has an hour max spread across the week. I don’t like screens too early.

At that age, maybe 15-30 mins a day of CBeebies.

She's 2.5 now and watches 1-1.5 hours a day over two sessions. She's dropped her nap and I still need a bit of quiet time after lunch, plus a bit before tea time. I'd be happy for her to watch more but she gets bored.

Honestly? About 3 hours a day... bearing in mind we were in lockdown with absolutely FUCK ALL else to do.

An hour in the morning.

An hour around lunchtime.

An hour before bed.

Shock horror, my now 3yo is very bright, super active, very sociable etc. hits all milestones bla bla bla and STILL probably watches 2hrs of TV/iPad a day.